Irene and the Aftermath in Boston, New England

Today’s bright blue sky over Boston is hardly a clear representation of Irene, downgraded to a Tropical Storm by the time she reached New England on Sunday. Here, a round-up of some of the breaking coverage and pointed commentary on the storm:

Irene Damages Estimated at $7 Billion, More than 20 Dead. Even though the storm was downgraded to a Tropical Storm as she hit New England yesterday. [Boston.com]

Flooding in Vermont and More Might Be On The Way. Residents of the Green Mountain State are battling “epic flooding” from Irene, and the bad news is that it could get worse before it gets better. [Reuters.com]

Disruptions in Flight Schedules Smoothing Out by Monday Evening. Airlines are continuing to rebuild their schedules in the Northeast after slashing more than 11,000 flights. Delta says it could be running a nearly full schedule as early as Monday evening. [Bloomberg.com]

MBTA Restoring Service on Monday, Green Line/Riverside Still Backed Up. Removing downed trees and branches from the Riverside branch of the Green Line was a top priority of the MBTA, which hopes to fully resume service today. [WallStreetJournal.com]

On Irene and the Routine of Emergency Response. “We saw an impressive set of emergency measures taken by local, state and federal agencies. Increasingly sophisticated emergency response has become a fundamental and expected function of government in the developed world,” writes Steven Cohen. [HuffingtonPost.com]